Method of dividing ivory-nuts.



G. J. SPILL.

METHOD OF DIVIDING IVORY NUTS.

APPLICATION FILED pow. 25, mo.

Patented Dec. 13, 1910.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES J". SPILL, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED BUTTON COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

METHOD OF DIVIDING IVORY-NUTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 13, 1910.

Application filed October 25, 1910. Serial No. 588,974.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES J. SPILL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Dividing Ivory-Nuts, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to the art of dividing ivory nuts into slabs or pieces, preparatory to turning said pieces into buttons.

Before the ivory nuts are sawed into pieces, they are dried or cured so as to obtain the proper hardness and texture of the material. The nut, in drying however, shrinks from the center to the outside in all directions, and the center or core becomes soft and cracked; sometimes entirely hollow. In consequence of this, only the outside of the nut can be used; and it is therefore of the greatest importance that the nut be so cut as to make as much of the outside material usable as possible.

In the art, as it is practiced at the present time, two primary cuts are first made substantially at right angles to the longitudinal axis or length of the nut, thereby removing the ovoid ends. The remaining block presents a section roughly circular or triangular. Owing to the shape of this block only three secondary cuts can be made, these cuts being made in planes at right angles to the plane of the primary cuts. This method is wasteful for two reasons. First because one of the ovoid ends contains the germ of the nut and cannot be used; secondly because the slabs or pieces removed by the secondary cuts are oblon which can be used only for buttons of a diameter equal to the narrowest width of the oblong pieces. The net production per nut by this method is therefore four pieces, viz: one ovoid end, and three oblong pieces. In the prior art it has also been customary to employ a free hand method. When this is used the nut is cut in half through its diameter (the thickness of the nut) or at right angles to the length of the nut. These two halves are then sawed into three pieces each, leaving a triangular core with about ten per cent. of good material on the core ends. Inasmuch as ivory nuts are irregular as to length and diameter,

and fully fifty per cent. of the same are too small to be cut in half, it follows that the six ieces obtained by this method were practica ly worthless, since a sufficiently large button could not be obtained from the pieces produced. To make material large enough for merchantable buttons, by this process, the length of the nut must be at least one and one-half inches. Moreover this process necessitates the services of a skilled sawyer, as it requires a judicious selection of cutting planes to obtain the best results.

The object of the present invention is to divide the nut in such a manner that waste is avoided and substantially the entire outside of the nut is made available for the cuttin of buttons of a sufficient size.

iccordingly the invention consists in dividing the nut so that the germ end will be nullified, and so as to increase the available surface of the block or main portion of the nut. This is accomplished by making a plurality of primary cuts on lines inclined with respect to the length of the nut, one of said cuts passing substantially through the germ end. In this way two ovoid pieces are severed from the nut, and a block is produced which is not limited by the diameter of the nut, and which forms substantially an oblique oval cylinder, the major axis of the cylinderblock being greater than the diameter of the nut. Secondary cuts are then made from this block in a plane at an angle to the lane of the primary outs, one or more of said secondary cuts passing substantially through the germ end of the nut. One of the primary cuts and one or more of the secondary cuts will thus meet substantially at the germinal point, and as the germ will be in the edge of the slabs or pieces, all of the pieces can be utilized. Furthermore, on account of the length of the major axis of the cylinder block, and the consequent greater area of the available working surface, four or more secondary cuts can be made, and the pieces produced by these secondary cuts will not be oblong, but will be, though irregular shaped, of substantially the same area as the square of the height of the cylinder block. In this way the net production per nut is six slabs or pieces, viz: two ovoid pieces produced by the primary cuts, and four pieces of available size produced by the secondary cuts. The saving of material is therefore about twenty per cent. over the method first here in described. Incidentally, it may be remarked that the two ovoid pieces produced by the present method are as large as the single available ovoid piece produced by the method first herein described, and can both be used. Furthermore no skilled sawyer is required to divide the nut according to my method, as no judicious selection of cutting planes is necessary, the cutting always taking place according to a uniform system and along substantlally the same lines.

In the accompanying drawings the lines along which the nut is divided are shown.

In the said drawings: Figure 1 is a view of the nut showing the lines along which the primary cuts are made. Fig. 2 shows a top view of the oblique oval cylinder pro duced by the primary cuts, looking in the direction of the arrows Z-Z of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 shows the line along which a slab may be cut from the nut for large buttons before the primary cuts are made, and the lines along which the primary cuts are made after the removal of the large slab. Fig. 1 is a view of the cylinder block looking in the direction of the arrows X-X of Fig. 3, after the primary cuts have been made, and showing in this case three secondary cuts. Fig. 5 is a view of one of the slabs removed by one of the primary cuts, looking in the direction of the arrow YY, and showing, in this instance, two secondary cuts. Fig. 6 shows a modification of the primary cuts of Fig. l for a large size nut.

Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the different views.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the major axis or length of the nut is indicated by 10, and the thickness or diameter is indicated by 11. 12 is the germinal point, shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, as it extends down into the nut. The nut is divided by means of the primary cuts 13 and 14 which run inclined to the length of the nut. The cut 13 passes substantially through the germinal point. It will be noticed that the slab or piece 15 produced by the cut 13 is imperfect at one edge, but this imperfection is so slight in its extent that a good button blank nevertheless can be produced from the piece. The removal of the two slabs or pieces by means of the primary cuts 13 and 14 leaves a block 21 which is substantially in the form of an oblique oval cylinder. The secondary cuts 16, 17, 1S and 19 are now made in a plane at an angle to the plane of the primary cuts, as shown in Fig. 2, where 20 indicates the face from which the slab 13 has been removed. By looking at Fig. 2, it will be noticed that the major axis of the cylinder block 21. is greater than the diameter of the nut, thus per mitting four secondary cuts to be made. The number of these secondary cuts varies, but generally four can be made. Two of these cuts, viz: 16 and 19, pass substantially through the germinal end of the nut, and meet the primary cut 13 substantially at the germinal point. The slabs or pieces produced by the secondary cuts will be irregular shaped, but will have an area equal to substantially the square of the height of the cylinder block 21, between the flat faces produced by the primary cuts. Sometimes a slab 22 to be used for a large button is cut preliminarily from the nut asindicated in Fig. 3. Then the primary cuts 13 and 14 are made. The cylinder block 21 of the nut can then receive three or more secondary cuts 23, 2 1 and 25, as shown in Fig. 4:, and the slab 26 can then receive two or more secondary cuts 27 and 28, as shown in Fig. 5. These cuts will serve to illustrate the many modifications of which the invention is susceptible.

lVhen a very large nut is used it is sometimes advantageous to have three primary cuts as shown in Fig. 6, where the third primary cut is indicated at 30. Secondary cuts are then made from both of the cylinder blocks 31 and 32 as previously.

hat is claimed is:

1. That improvement in the art of dividing ivory nuts into pieces, which consists in making a plurality of primary cuts on lines inclined to the length of the nut, one of said cuts passing substantially through the germ end, thereby severing a plurality of pieces from the nut and producing a block forming substantially an oblique oval cylinder, the major axis of which cylinder is greater than the diameter of the nut.

2. That improvement in the. art of dividing ivory nuts into pieces, which consists in making a plurality of primary cuts on lines inclined to the length of the nut, one of said cuts passing substantially through the germ end of the nut, thereby severing a plurality of pieces from the nut and pro ducing a block forming substantially an oblique oval cylinder, the major axis of which cylinder is greater than the diameter of the nut, and then cutting irregularshaped pieces of substantially the same area as the square of the height of the cylinder block, from said cylinder block in a plane at an angle to the plane of the primary cuts.

3. That improvement in the art of dividing ivory nuts into pieces, which consists in making a plurality of primary cuts on lines inclined to the length of the nut, one of said cuts passing substantially through the germ end of the nut, thereby severing a plurality of pieces from the nut and procuts pass substantially through the germiducing a block forming substantially an nal point of the nut. oblique oval cylinder, the major axis of Signed at Springfield in the county of which cylinder is greater than the diam- Hampden and State of Massachusetts this 5 efer (ff the nut, angl then cl'utting irregular- 20th day of October A. D. 1910.

Slate ec ieces of Sn stantia l the same area as the slluare of the height bf the cylinder CHARLES SPILL block, from said cylinder block in a WVitnesses:

. plane at an angle to the plane of the pri- R. E. UNDERWOOD,

10 niary cuts, one or more of which secondary GURDON \V. GORDON. 

